Making Friends

 Now that's something I've always been good at, maybe it was my military upbringing. But whatever it is when I  combine that with the wonderful welcoming style of the Mexican people I just seem to fit in real good...just kinda normal. Today as we walked old town the blaring sound of the a water salesman rang down the street and I shot this, we just don't advertise in such a personal manner N.O.B.   ( north of the border ) 

As we were at the Plaza Machado a bunch of kids were getting their pics taken for graduation or something I'd guess. It was cool so I asked if I could get a pic along with the professional that was  shooting and I had about 5 kids step forward....and then the rest seeing an opportunity joined in and I ended up with this.  Our son Max was impressed and told me that's powerful...I said  just fun and who doesn't like that .

And who doesn't consider these guys friends. The defined our youth and showed us the way to being ourselves. In my case they inspired me to get that first guitar and now I have several hundred songs and all of the the things I've done in life playing the music stands tall...

When I was young 

so much younger than today.

I never needed anybody's 

help in any way.

Now those days are gone 

and I'm not self assured.

And now I find the time to change

 my mind and open up that door.

Help me if you can I'm feeling down

and I really do appreciate you being around.

Help me get my feet 

back on the ground.

won't you PLeeeeease , please

Help Me.

And of course to be good with new friends ya gotta love on your old friends which since our life change we've been a little short on...But Maxwell Steven our oldest surprised us with a Mazatlan visit. I've always called him " best buddy " but that's not really the deal, every parent knows that...of all that I've learned in life I've learned the most and the most important from him and his brother Sam.

Nice Soldotna Stars shirt eh ?....mmmmm.....now where was I. Oh, you' re wondering about fish by now and I have not to many stories to tell. In one of life's poetic ironies I seem to have come up with a thing called Ciguatera, which is the most common type of fish poisoning. It has been hell. Look it up if you're curious but the short version is this : big predator fish ( that we all want ) in tropic areas eat small reef fish that get the ciguatoxin from eating coral or algae off the inshore rocks. It collects in your system and you get sick when you eat those fish as your system has all it can handle already. Some people are more sensitive and some less. In any case I'm the poster boy fish hound that's eaten and handled so many fish that now it makes me sick...But hey...the joy is in the pursuit so I'll continue to chase and report back. Just been sick a  lot his month...

So right now the best I can do is show every fish bum a beautiful thing... I told my friend Rafa at PescaMaz that I'd never seen a million dollars worth of lures in one place. Everyone knows how I feel about the Mirro Lure....in Alaska if you were to have to fish with only one lure it would be Blue Foxes Pixie, here in Mazatlan Mexico it would be the Mirro lure....Catch five for low and medium tide to dive on 3 to 5 ft. just above the rocks. M77 for high tide to dive to 10 or 15 feet and the new XXL for a medium depth long casting master .....what a lure. Oh, be careful with them , they're expensive.

About Snook

 Well  they're my favorite surf fish opponent. They fight well and will jump but my favorite thing is when they come up shaking  their heads when hooked, it's sooooo cool. It took me years to catch my first real nice one but lately there seems to either more of them or I finally learned how to catch them. They're interesting fish. They are hermaphrodite in that they all start out as males and turn into females at around 10 to 12 pounds , there are 6 verity's with the White Snook being the one we see the most. Like salmon they are anadromous , meaning they go into fresh water to spawn although some spawn in the open seas. They also think that because they are more prolific on the Caribbean side that they are extending their range. relying on warm water which seems to be everywhere in this day and age. Here's a pic of one I caught yesterday.

They love the Mangrove swamps and lucky for us the El Cid golf/ harbor / residence development used to be a pristine saltwater estuary and I always wondered how much of the original is still there . So I talk Jack into going up in his Boston Whaler which is about the cutest damn boat I 've ever seen....you know I'm kinda queer for boats. Well Jack and I found out there's a  lot of undisturbed mangrove wetlands and there's lots of fish to go with them....so cool....here' two shots to give you an idea. On one hand we could be out in backcountry and then go around the corner and you see the condo's.  We never saw another boat on our two trips.

Jack grew up in Mazatlan and he's about the first real waterman I've ever met and oddly enough he hasn't caught fish with a rod and reel, only a spear gun. So I got a big kick out of it after he landed this snook he told me " ya know Jeff , that's the first fish I've ever caught when I wasn't wet and cold ". So we're working on Jack to find the allure of sportfishing and we slide into the golden years together. He was trolling a nice deep diving plug when the rod went off and he grabbed the rod and reeled for a couple seconds then lifted this fish into the boat....poor snook never had a chance. 

I guess I've taken a few things for granted in the last few years so missing Mazatlan last year kind of rekindled my appreciation. Our garden suite is far from the nicest unit in the building and our privacy ain't what our neighbors have but I took this pic last night as I barbecued burgers and you gotta admit...that ain't a bad view...and while we were gone the city built us a brand new bike path from our place to Cerritos point 3 miles away. The lighting and all is fantastic and we're riding more because it's finally safe....thank you Mazatlan.

Now that I'm healthy I'm not missing another sunrise. This morning I was out of bed at 4:40 and then on the bus at 6:00. I met the guys at the spot and beat a couple but Tim and Tom beat me . It wanted to rain which is unusual and when this developed I put my new camera to use and it turned out pretty good. The Lumix shockproof / waterproof isn't really made for perfect shots nut I liked this real good...it really is why we do what we do.

And in the change is good category....here's a pic of us saying good bye to  our friend Gilberto who has run the water taxi ever since we started here in 2004 . He is retiring after an awesome career. He runs the boat like it was part of his body which is saying a lot as the boat is pontooned, under powered and catches a lot of wind along with tide. I tell people all the time that it's the hardest boat to run in the harbor and Gilberto does it with good cheer, so easily. I gave him a fishing rod and reel for retirement and I hope we get to fish together....we love this man, well played Gilberto.

See ya'all again soon....